WACO, Texas - Every journey starts with
a single step. For top-ranked Baylor, repeating as national champions started
by winning Game One. The Lady Bears accomplished that Friday with an 80-34
victory over Lamar.

Despite a dominating second half that
saw Baylor limit the Cardinals to nine points on 2-of-20 shooting as it
outscored the visitors 40-9, coach Kim Mulkey was ambivalent about the outcome.

"The best thing is that it was a win, I
always like to win," she said. "It wasn't pretty, but it was the first game.
There was a lot of rust."

Baylor had 12 players see action and 10
of them played double figure minutes. The Lady Bears shot 53.1 percent from the
field, had a 43-29 rebounding edge and outscored the Cardinals 64-10 in the
paint.

"We're not gonna play anybody better
than Baylor," said Lamar coach Larry Tidwell, whose team competes in the
Southland Conference. "We didn't have the answer but 40 teams didn't have the
answer last season. Baylor's got the best player in Brittney Griner, the best
point guard in Odyssey Sims and the coach of the year (Mulkey).

Mulkey says she expects her team to get
better with each practice and each game. And there were aspects of the season
opener that she said needs improvement.